


Scream a Little Louder (I'm Underwater)

by driftingashes



Series: WIBAR AU Fics [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Accidental Mind Reading, Alien Culture, Angst, Crying, Cultural Differences, Gen, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hyperventilating, Language Barrier, Memories, Mindsharing, Misunderstandings, Panic Attacks, Protective Morality | Patton Sanders, Swearing, Threat Displaying, Vulcan Mind Meld, Worried Logic | Logan Sanders, closest appropriate tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26004622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingashes/pseuds/driftingashes
Summary: Logan laughed quietly, hesitantly baring his teeth in the human gesture of amusement or happiness, grateful when Virgil returned the motion, lips quirking up in a half smirk that even just a week prior would've had Roman instantly between them, hackles raised at the percieved threat display.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: WIBAR AU Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888009
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101





	Scream a Little Louder (I'm Underwater)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [delimeful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/delimeful/gifts).



> This fic (and the fics that will eventually be in this series) are all inspired by delimeful’s WIBAR AU, and will be set in the same universe.
> 
> All credit for the original AU, character species, and most of the lore, go to them. I just got permission to write some alternate ending and AU of their AU stuff because I'm bored.
> 
> Thanks again to delimeful for letting me write these!! 💙
> 
> ~Ash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> posted at 10:30pm on a saturday. we had company over all afternoon and bein that social is exhausting so i'll fix mistakes LATER. lemme know in the coonc nts if there's a bad one
> 
> Edit: that’s supposed to say comments, I-

Logan glanced at the human on the couch, clasping his hands tightly behind his back to resist the urge to record as he observed, remembering Virgil's distaste of Logan ‘taking notes’ without permission. Given where he had been when he and Patton had managed to escape, looked down upon as nothing more than a dispensible experiment, Logan could understand the sentiment and did his best to respect the human's wishes.

"Are you...feeling alright this morning?" Logan asked, accidentally switching to his native language halfway through as he grabbed a cup and moved to fill it. He repeated himself in Common, and Virgil let out an odd little groan, flopping back into the couch cushions.

"No, I'm dying," he mumbled, and Logan instantly dropped his empty cup, wincing as it shattered against the counter, hurrying towards the human in alarm.

"What happened? Did something hurt you? Were you bitten by something while you were outside this morning? Is there anything I should do? Goodness, I'll get Patton. Are you-"

Virgil bolted upright, giving him a strangely concerned look. "What?" His expression cleared. "Oh! No, no, I...I'm not dying, that's just a silly human expression," he reassured Logan in the broken Common-and-Ampen dialect mix he adopted when he was nervous. "Not literal, just expression. Sorry. No worries."

"I see," he breathed, relieved. Virgil glanced at him under his fringe of hair, and Logan laughed quietly, hesitantly baring his teeth in the human gesture of amusement or happiness, grateful when Virgil returned the motion, lips quirking up in a half smirk that even just a week prior would've had Roman instantly between them, hackles raised at the percieved threat display. "This is incredibly...I believe the correct word for this situation would be 'extra,' if Roman is to be trusted. Are all humans that overdramatic?"

Virgil shrugged, huffing a small laugh of his own. "Some of them," he said, suddenly sad. "Just some of them."

"Are the other ones considered normal? Or are overexaggerations commonplace in human culture?"

"It's pretty normal, but some of it isn't...nice," Virgil said, shrugging. The familiar Ampen lullaby that Patton hummed while he worked rolled off Virgil's tongue in an attempt to calm himself. Logan resisted the urge to tense up at how effortlessly Virgil replicated the familiar light notes of Patton's native langauge, reminding himself that while humans were remarkably advanced when it came to mimickry, Virgil meant them no harm through the imitation.

"Would you mind terribly if I sat with you? I would like to record some information from today, and this is one of the quieter rooms," Logan explained. "I promise that I will not write anything about you without your permission."

Virgil shrugged. "Your ship. I don't mind. I...I trust you."

Logans hands spasmed as he tried to make a note of the pogress. "Are you...would it be acceptable if I recorded a few things about your behaviour while I am out here?" he asked.

Virgil hesitated, mulling over his answer for a moment, then shrugged, the rippling motion of his shoulders instantly putting Logan on edge. "Sure, I guess. Just...please don't do any experiments," he said lightly, and Logan recognized the teasing tone, although there was a very real undercurrent of fear. Cautiously, he leaned forward, bumping his shoulder against Virgil's in what he had come to recognize was a gesture between friends, playful and teasing.

"I would never use you as a mere experiment, Virgil. Although I will admit that I do ask rather odd and personal things of you sometimes, I beg of you to understand that I do it out of pure curiosity and my own benefit. I will never gather information about you without your consent, nor will I give it to anyone I do not trust with my very life."

Logan's promise seemed to placate Virgil, and he relaxed against the back of the couch again. "Cool," he grunted. "Uh...thank you."

Logan bowed his head and carefully moved to sit beside Virgil. "Of course." He fell silent, hands weaving as he thought.

"Logan?" the human asked, closer than he remembered, and he flinched, nearly falling off the couch. Alarm flashed across Virgil's pale face, and his hands shot out to catch Logan as he fell, pulling him back up. One of Logan's hands came up instinctively, and he tried to pull back when he saw what was going to happen, but-

_Someone was screaming. There was a woman in a tattered green cloth shirt and dark pants, flailing her hands as something behind her grabbed her by her curly hair. The woman shrieked unintelligibly, and was dragged backwards. "Someone help me, please!" she screamed, the strange Human words somehow making a bizarre sort of sense to Logan._

Virgil gave a hoarse little gasp, and _yanked_ the connection off to the side, sending them tumbling dizzyingly through memories before everything slammed into place again.

_"Virgil?" It was too dark to see clearly, the speaker not much more than a vague lump in the shadows, even with Virgil's more advanced night vision, but Logan would recognize that voice anywhere._

_"Patton?" Virgil asked, the name coming out harshly as he fumbled to pronounce it. "You okay? Bad guard coming?" His voice held just a tinge of panic , the human instantly pulling the sweater thing from his shoulders and reaching for the fluffy silhouette that was Patton._

_Patton shook his head, scrambling up into the human's lap boldly._ (Roman would have a stroke if he saw that, Logan thought distractedly.) _"No guards," he chirped. "But you need your sleep. Why are you awake?"_

_"Just can't sleep. Get your rest, Patton."_

_The Ampen reluctantly huddled back down, blurring back into the shadows as he stilled._

Virgil was barely breathing at this point, fingers digging cruelly into his own arms, tearing the skin and leaving bleeding gashes. "Virgil," Logan warned, trying to pull away, but the flow of memories was tugging at them too strongly. "Cut it off."

A large dirt circle surrounded by high metal walls. Logan recognized it immediately - this was an Arena. Virgil had been a fighter?

_Memory Virgil himself stood just inches away from Present Logan, hands trembling at his sides, eyes fixed on the alien across the ring from him. A small thing, barely up to his knee, trembling violently and quaking at him, begging in patchy Common for mercy in a high, reedy voice. Memory Virgil backed away, and the guard by the edge hit him upside the head with his weapon, pushing him stumbling back into the Arena._

_"Fight," he growled._

_The alien shrieked, launching itself at Memory Virgil. The human dropped into a crouch, becoming a blur of movement along the ground as he dove forward, catching the alien as it came hurtling towards him, claws bared and fangs extended. There was a little blur of motion as Memory Virgil twisted the alien's body, snapping its spine and tossing the body away from him._

Present Virgil whimpered, much weaker than before. "Logan...I'm sorry...."

Logan set his mouth determinedly and grabbed the reins, pulling as hard as he could, forcing them into Logan's memories. He focused in on the happiest thing he could recall, sighing in relief as the memory around them changed abruptly. _Memory Logan standing by the entrance ramp to the ship, watching his crewmates tumble through the flowers, Memory Patton shrieking with laughter and babbling in Ampen as Memory Roman tickled him mercilessly._

As Memory Logan turned to go back in, Present Logan gently pulled away from the mental connection and back to the present, barely catching Virgil as he slumped to the floor. The human was barely conscious and sobbing out apologies in between little breathless snatched of what Logan assumed was his native language, the harsh Human words grating on Logan's ears. He was used to Roman's hums and Patton's chirrups, and Human was harsh ad ugly in comparison.

"Are you alright, Virgil?" Logan asked when he'd caught his breth.

Virgil shook his hed frantically, yanking away and weakly scrambling backwards. His back hit the wall with a thunk, and he made adesperate little moaning sound. "Patton?" he gasped, eyes going unfocused and fixing on a point just above Logan's head. "Patton, is-" he trailed off into a strong of unintelligible Human babble, then pressed himself flat against the wall and screamed, a bloodcurdling, terrified sound that had Logan instantly cowering.

There were footsteps i n the hall now, and suddenly Patton and Roman wefre there, Roman's hackles up and Patton so pussed out he looked like a rainbow marshmallow (a soft human food Virgil had told him about) albeit a very angry, very distressed rainbow marshmallow.

"What did you do? What happened?" Patton demanded.

It took Logan a moment to compose himself enough to answer, eyes fixed on Patton trying to walk Virgil through steadying his breathing. "I accidentally connected, and was unable to sever the vidi when ir became clear that Virgil had control and was too panicked to do anything but watch," be explained, trying to keep his voice level.

"I thought you said you'd never been able to not stop one before?" Roman asked from beside him.

Logan nodded. "I haven't ever gotten stuck in a mind connection. Until today." "How?" "I didn't even know it was possible."

**Author's Note:**

> I took some liberties with how things worked to make the story flow the way I wanted, and I'm not afraid to admit it. This still in set in delimeful's 'verse, though. I just changed some things because I had a specific way I wanted this to go.
> 
> ~Ash


End file.
